Saturday’s Cardinals/Phillies Game 1 completed an ignominious clean sweep, as all four playoff openers were down from last year..
Game 1 between the Cardinals and Phillies earned a 2.4 U.S. rating and 3.752 million viewers on TBS Saturday evening, down 31% in ratings and 29% in viewership from the comparable game on the second day of last year’s postseason (NYY/MIN G2: 3.5, 5.314M), and 31% and 28%, respectively, from 2009 (STL/LAD G2: 3.5, 5.175M).
The 2010 and 2009 games aired at 6:00 PM ET on Thursday nights, an hour later than Saturday’s game.
Not only did this year’s game have the disadvantage of added college football competition, but it also overlapped for just over an hour with Rays/Rangers Game 2 on TNT (1.4, 2.165M).
Versus last year’s comparable Saturday evening game (TB/TEX G3: 2.2, 3.513M), the Phillies’ win was up 9% and 7%, respectively.
Cardinals/Phillies earned the second-largest audience of the four MLB Game 1s, trailing only the conclusion of Tigers/Yankees Game 1 on Saturday night (2.7, 4.200M).
Locally, Game 1 drew a 19.4 rating in Philadelphia, down 11% from last year’s Wednesday night Reds/Phillies Game 1 (21.9), in which Phillies P Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter. In St. Louis, the game drew a 15.2 rating.
(Information from Turner Sports)
